Yes and such a fashionable thing to do these days.posted by oh posey at 9:47 AM on September 10, 2003

This monkey's gone to heaven! Gigantic!posted by vraxoin at 9:47 AM on September 10, 2003

First Opus, and now the Pixiesposted by jonson at 9:51 AM on September 10, 2003

I remember back in 1986 they had a rehearsal space adjacent to ours (The DT's [sic] and The Classic Ruins) in the Fenway. Their space was plastered wall-to-wall with rejection letters from various record companies.

So glad they finally made it, and are finally back!posted by ZenMasterThis at 9:52 AM on September 10, 2003

Sooo, will we call him Frank Black or Black Francis now? Or does it all depend on context?posted by COBRA! at 9:53 AM on September 10, 2003

Does that mean Frank Black will stop being boring now?posted by 2sheets at 9:54 AM on September 10, 2003

I have mixed feelings about this. I really liked the Pixies, but sometimes it's better to let a good thing die. It will be disappointing if the new album sucks. On the other hand, it will allow a new generation of Pixies fans to actually see the band. Ugh. I don't know.

In case you're curious, here's the source of Pitchdork's story...posted by bucko at 10:00 AM on September 10, 2003

"The Pixies. Are back. Together. Music is saved. Lovers of rock, unite and cheer. This is going to truly own."

Until we find out what the ticket prices are going to be.posted by jasonspaceman at 10:01 AM on September 10, 2003

Pitchfork reported the rumors a couple months ago about this. Glad to see it's (probably) coming to fruition. As one of those guys that didn't get to see them during the original tours, my time has finally come.

Has anyone heard anything about the Pixies DVD that P-Fork reported back in April? They said it was to be released this month sometime.

Ugh. This is awful news, imo. I love the pixies and saw them play a few times, but I was so happy they threw in the towel while they were still a good band instead of waiting until they were poo, or, god forbid, never throwing in the towel. I thought what they did by breaking up was so fantastic because it was mud in the eye of all those old fuckers (stones, aerosmith, who, et al.) who just won't go the fuck away.

And for those who say Frank Black is boring, him and his catholics easily kick The Pixies ass live. There's no comparison. Pixies were all over the map live. One time I saw them and Black's guitar was giving him trouble. He threw it down after 20 minutes and walked off stage, never to return. Thankfully, Pere Ubu opened that show so it wasn't a total waste.posted by dobbs at 10:14 AM on September 10, 2003

Cool news indeed, I don't think Black Francis has ever written a bad song, so the new album is sure to good.

Wow, can you believe they split in '93, seems just like yesterday.posted by carfilhiot at 10:23 AM on September 10, 2003

Could be good news. Though I think the Pixies were all downhill after Doolittle. Still, Joey Santiago is a guitar god.
I'll be waiting to hear the fruits of their labours before I go all dancing on the rooftops.

Aside:

" Sooo, will we call him Frank Black or Black Francis now? Or does it all depend on context?"

In Newcastle Upon Tyne, near where I live in the UK, in the [now closed] Riverside, Frank was referred to as "Fat Bastard."
Repeatedly. At loud volume. He wasn't happy and refused to continue playing until the audience stopped taunting him.
I guess it does depend on context.posted by Blue Stone at 10:31 AM on September 10, 2003

Yeah, I've got mixed feelings too. I only saw them once, in 1986, when they were unknowns opening for the Throwing Muses, and they got the audience really going, but they didn't click for me. (Hey ZenMasterThis, I was just thinking 'whatever happened to the Classic Ruins' the other day...weird)

Pilgrim didn't click for me, eiter. But Surfer Rosa sure did. I think Franics and Deal have a bunch more good songs in them, and maybe they'll edit or tone down each other excesses. I think the Frank Black song Bullet is as good as anything he's ever done. But it's so rare that a reunion adds anything to a legacy, I'm worried. Wire is the exception that proves the rule. And they put out some uninteresting stuff before this latest incarnation.

The Pixies disography is so tight, and each record so complete, I'd hate to see it watered down.posted by bendybendy at 10:32 AM on September 10, 2003

And My Bloody Valentine to reform, too, apparently. With the best album of the 90s ("Loveless") released in 1991, it's been a long 12 years.posted by Pericles at 10:38 AM on September 10, 2003

Maybe I will finally find my mind after asking the question for so many years...posted by aacheson at 10:47 AM on September 10, 2003

David Lovering must be happy. Last time I saw him, he was doing magic tricks with smoke before a Frank Black show.posted by SweetJesus at 10:56 AM on September 10, 2003

I'm generally suspicious of reunion tours, but when recently polled about what bands I would like to see come back for one last tour, the Pixies topped my list as I never got to see them the first time around. So I will definitely go see them live, at least once, but I will withhold comment on any new material until I hear it. That could really go either way, I think.

My theory is that they are reuniting because I named our newest kitten Black Frances (she's female) and they sensed through the cosmos that the time is right. Either that or the money.posted by jennyb at 11:03 AM on September 10, 2003

Holy shit.

Blue Stone, suggesting that the Pixies were all downhill after Doolittle is ridiculous. Each album, (including Trompe Le Monde and Bossanova) is its own musical world, and I believe that the trend would have continued if the band had stuck it out. Maybe they would have been songs about space, but they would have been good.

All four members of the band have grown leaps and bounds as songwriters and performers during the past ten years. The Frank Black, Breeders and Amps albums and shows are a testament to this.

With all this growth, you can bet the band will be a bit more even-handed and democratic, since they want to do this.

Cease to resist.

Dobbs, would you rather see some bastard incarnation of the band come together in another decade, with a different drummer and the chick from Luna on bass? This is the actual band. And as a band, their entire career flew by in a quick six years. Let's see what else they have! Would mediocre material somehow make the older albums worse?

It's EDUCATIONAL.

Finally, we'll all get to say we saw them live. And I'm still a young man.

suggesting that the Pixies were all downhill after Doolittle is ridiculous

Agreed. Trompe Le Monde is sublime and the perfect way to end a band's career. It took me a while to appreciate Bossanova even as a rabid fan but that album too holds its own.

Saw Black when he toured for the first solo album and he sadly sucked, though I do love his solo work. I go hot and cold on the Breeders/Amps, so Deal hasn't really lived up to the post-Pixies career she should be living up to.posted by archimago at 11:15 AM on September 10, 2003

And so the transition of GenX into middle-aged nostalgia clicks into high gear ...posted by fuzz at 11:17 AM on September 10, 2003

An alternate title to this post would be "Frank Black has run out of money."posted by the fire you left me at 11:21 AM on September 10, 2003

On preview: fuzz, absolutely. With this spate of reunions, it's like the alterna-rockers are morphing into the aging AOR warhorses they used to mock.posted by jonmc at 11:22 AM on September 10, 2003

Chuck (as I prefer to call him) was way too worried about the legacy to let this new record suck. It's too easy to shoot them down-I never got to see the Pixies play live either. Just last week, I was just arguing with a friend who thought they topped out with Surfer Rosa!
The Buzzcocks are still showing the kidz how it's done, as is the aforementioned and newly re-energized Wire (although I think Manscape is the only boring Wire album). I'm with Sixfoot6, I think the Pixies will kick our collective asses!posted by black8 at 11:23 AM on September 10, 2003

sixfoot6, the chick on Bass in Luna was JEM and she is truly outrageous!

In the sleepy west of the woody east, I passed on a Pixies show in order to study for a test, which I probably failed. Later that year they broke up and I have been kicking myself ever since. Rock before all, including education, has been my mantra ever since.posted by shoepal at 11:25 AM on September 10, 2003

And so the transition of GenX into middle-aged nostalgia clicks into high gear ...

Shhh, fuzz. "I Love the 70s" is on and I can't hear it over your talking.posted by jennyb at 11:31 AM on September 10, 2003

Will they rock as well if they actually ... like one another? Will they perform songs in reverse order (in sign language, without vowels?) Will Kim finally make friends with the click track in her head? And good lord, what will kelly do???posted by armacy at 11:51 AM on September 10, 2003

it's like the alterna-rockers are morphing into the aging AOR warhorses they used to mock.

Well, they're aging. We're aging. Whaddya expect? :: shrug ::

What makes me sad is there isn't really some new trend to come along and mock the aging alterna-rocker warhorses. 'Course, the fact that I'm looking forward to it means it won't happen until me and the record company execs of the world are too old to appreciate it. Life sucks!posted by furiousthought at 11:55 AM on September 10, 2003

OMG. Britta Phillips! I'd drag my genitalia through 40 miles of broken glass just to wave goodbye to the garbage truck that takes her trash to the dump.

With a dimebag sized inner pocket and cushioned leather syringe sleeve, no doubt.posted by jonmc at 12:01 PM on September 10, 2003

Dobbs, would you rather see some bastard incarnation of the band come together in another decade, with a different drummer and the chick from Luna on bass? This is the actual band. And as a band, their entire career flew by in a quick six years. Let's see what else they have! Would mediocre material somehow make the older albums worse?

no. i'd rather neither happened. and, as for Luna, i don't really see how the situation is comparable. for one, luna never broke up--a bassist left and was replaced with another. sure, phillips is no harwood, but she holds her own just fine. (i've seen them both play live.) and yes, i'm one of those freaks who actually likes Luna as much as i do Galaxie 500. but they're very different bands.

i view reunions as i do sequels to movies. they're never as good as the original and (99 out of 100 times) they general suck and water down the original "product".posted by dobbs at 12:10 PM on September 10, 2003

Strikes me they heard about how much the Spice Girls were going to make from their reunion tour and thought "I'll have me some of that..."

Cynicism aside, one of the best bands I've ever heard. I will however be watching through a telescopic sight from a lighting tower in case the they even think about playing Velouria.posted by dmt at 12:24 PM on September 10, 2003

Huzzah!

Pixies were sorta like the Beatles in that together they were transcendent, but as individuals... well...

Dobbs, I didn't mean to imply that Luna w/ Britta Phillips is somehow a bastardization of Luna or the memory of Galaxie 500 or anything. I actually like Luna better with Phillips on bass. They seem to havea little more soul and stage presence.

No direct comparison is in order; I only mean to paint a picture of a Pixies reunion that didn't include every memeber of the Pixies, and Phillips popped into my head as somebody I could actully picture taking part in a half-assed reunion tour. I'm glad to see the real thing, even with the risk of dissappointment.

But I hear you re: reunions and sequels, with the exception of Empire, Back to the Future II, Godfather II, Two Towers. I guess those are all trilogies. oh, and BAD BOYS 2.

I dunno how legitimate the whole "aging warhorses"[*] thing is, or for that matter ever was, anyway. Granted, nobody wants to see their rock and roll heroes treat their best material like a chore because they've played those same damn songs 200 nights a year for twenty years[**], but age and experience themselves don't exactly work against a musician's abilities. Having missed an almost criminal number of opportunities to see B.B. King, for example, I'd definitely pay good money to see the man do his thing. Same with Johnny Cash.

So why is rock and roll any different? Okay, it's typically packaged and marketed as "youth rebellion", but the stuff that's sold that way nowadays just brings out my inner Holden Caulfield. Phony, baby, phony. And the Pixies never struck me as a Sex Pistols-type band whose entire point was to self destruct. So either a. they'd be worth seeing, on the strength of their past output and status as influences, or b. in retrospect, a bunch of goofy college rock songs about monkeys and UFOs never meant anything in the first place. I'll go with a.

[*] Not that that stopped me from mocking the endless Who/Stones reunion tours of the late 80's, but hell, I was young, stupid and in retrospect, stereotypically Gen-X. Even if my listening diet contained a heavy dose of Beatles, Zep, Floyd and Hendrix.

[**] F'rinstance, I recall seeing a Steve Earle show on TV. Amazing singer/songwriter, great, charismatic stage presence, and during the mandolin solo that he started his encore with, he was ON FIRE, dammit. But then, once that solo segued into the intro to "Copperhead Road", you could almost see the energy leak out of him, like a balloon deflating. No wonder he's writing songs about the Taliban now--it's to scare off the classic rock crowd!posted by arto at 1:48 PM on September 10, 2003

In the past year there have been national tours by The Fall, Buzzcocks, Television and Wire who've each proven their greatness after 20+ years.

And now, the Pixies.

Let us stop bickering and cogitating and fussypants'ing and invoking our inner Critic and just be HAPPY!posted by dhoyt at 2:16 PM on September 10, 2003

I for one am thrilled. I didn't get into them until after they split (many of the people I knew back in the day who liked them were pricks), and the chance to see them, no matter how Steel-Wheels-tourish this thing winds up being, is welcome and excellent.

And it's in the Bill of Rights that every generation gets to be an old fart about the bands of their own personal yesteryear. So fuckin' A.posted by chicobangs at 2:33 PM on September 10, 2003

One of the most cringeworthy interviews I've read. Props to Frank Black for some great answers to silly questions:

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/09/09/202154.php

DO: Also - what if any chance is there of a reunion tour with new Pixies material? P.S. I love Teenager of the Year

Frank Black: Sure there's a chance. Know any promoters that want to do a show on the moon? P.S. Thanks.posted by jonah at 2:44 PM on September 10, 2003

To all the naysayers, would you rather they not try at all? Are you utterly certain that if they do produce a new album, that it's guaranteed to suck? I'm willing to see what happens, and if they make an album that's trash now, it'd be less of a blow than it'd be if they made an album of trash right after Trompe le Monde. I'm sure they're aware that this may not work.

I'm dubious too, however. I don't know if Frank Black could sing Tame these days without keeling over. He's lost the scream, that wonderful scream of gleeful perversion. I'd love to see that scream come back.

If it works, it'll be a religious experience for some of us. If it fails... well it won't make their past works any less spiffy.posted by picea at 4:03 PM on September 10, 2003

every third post is a snarky useless comment. =
YOU REALLY GOT 'EM WITH THAT ONE ACE!posted by Satapher at 6:35 PM on September 10, 2003

ah, damn, now this IS good news. their last tour was good, caught it twice, the one in LA was 3 hours long, and included about 15 b-sides, including Manta Ray into Dancing the Manta Ray, and Bailey's Walk.

I can't wait to see Tame and Nimrod's Son again -- always the high point of their shows, from the Doolittle tour onward.

nothing like a drunk ass crowd shouting "you are the son of a motherfucker"posted by badzen at 7:00 PM on September 10, 2003

I'll believe it when I see it. So far it's just an internet rumor propagated by an unnamed "spokesperson" talking to mtv.com... Billboard.com could not get confirmation from anybody representing anybody. Don't get your hopes up, people.posted by elvissinatra at 7:05 PM on September 10, 2003

One of life's disappointments was somehow getting backstage at a Pixies/Love & Rockets show in '91 or so and discovering that the Pixies had already fled the scene. But since I was there, I asked a seemingly half-drunk Daniel Ash if there was ever going to be a Bauhaus reunion. Staring at a wall, he made some comment about Peter Murphy and then stated a reunion would never happen.posted by gluechunk at 7:07 PM on September 10, 2003

For what it's worth, the My Bloody Valentine rumor is just that - a rumor. It didn't happen and it's not happening. Didn't re-record 'Glider'. Don't plan to.posted by item at 1:18 PM on September 29, 2003

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